DERMATOGLYPHICS IN PRIMATES 187 



pattern intensity and in divergence from the morphologic 

 plan. 



It has been shown that the uncertainties surrounding an 

 inquiry into the affinities of man arise in part from the 

 independence of evolutionary sequences involving different 

 dermatoglyphic traits. This independence has been pointed 

 out in preceding sections, and it may be recalled that it extends 

 to the very beginnings of dermatoglyphic evolution, being 

 illustrated in advances of areas of ridged skin and involution 

 of patterns on volar pads. In the same manner departures 

 from the morphologic plan of configurational fields, reduction 

 of total pattern intensity, the reductions of intensity in indi- 

 vidual configurational fields and groups, and expressions of 

 asymmetry in pattern intensity, all seem to advance more or 

 less independently rather than in a mass departure from 

 primitiveness. The frequent unlikeness of evolutionary prog- 

 ress in palm and sole is another and an important illustration 

 of this principle of independence. 



It is apparent that specializations of members and of regions 

 are associated with responses in the dermatoglyphics. These 

 responses may vary widely among genera within the same 

 taxonomic group, as in great apes or New World monkeys. 

 In consequence, it follows that the membral and regional 

 specializations may so alter the dermatoglyphics that their 

 traits come to be indicative of varying uses of members rather 

 than or in addition to genetic affinities. There are suggestions 

 of convergent specializations within different taxonomic 

 groups, most comprehensively represented in the prosimians, 

 New World monkeys, and even the marsupials. The con- 

 vergent specializations often closely correspond among genera 

 belonging to different groups, and the existence of like direc- 

 tions of specialization within different groups suggests that 

 parallel or convergent evolution in dermatoglyphic features 

 (influenced by similar functional adaptations of the members) 

 is an actual phenomenon. The resemblances among Ateles, 

 Hylobates, Pongo and Pan, which may be explained on the 

 basis of brachiation, may be recalled as an illustrative example. 



